SOLD TO THE DEMON ALPHA

Chapter 5: Nightmares and fantasy

Aria's pov:

I woke up from a nightmare, cold sweat dripping down my face, my eyes wild with terror. It soon dawned on me that I was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room and the events of the last twelve hours seemed less and less like a fever dream.

I had been running from something. A wild beast, as big as a bear and ten times more ferocious with bloody teeth and razor sharp claws chasing after me.

It was a recurring nightmare I've been having for months now. The same wild beast, the same haunted house, full moon, fire outside and the scent of blood and gore, adrenaline pumping through my veins as the creature kept chasing me. But this time around, it felt a lot more real than just a bad dream.

I started drawing my dreams as a way to get them out of my head, hoping to make sense of it. But I had left my sketchbook back at home because I hadn't really been given the liberty of packing my things.

I needed that sketchbook and the other valuables I kept hidden away from my dad. I'll run mad in this place if this dream keeps reoccurring without a way to let them out.

I swallowed and shook my head.

"You're awake," a vaguely familiar voice said as I tried to calm my racing heart.

"And you're in my room," I grumbled in a groggy voice as I tried to sit up in bed.

When he looked at me with a confused look on his face, I explained, "since we're stating the obvious."

He laughed softly, shaking his head, and when I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes to look at him clearly, I saw that it was the same man from last night. The man that had been talking to my father before Roma appeared.

He had thick, wavy light brown hair that fell over his eyes and obstructed most of his face.

"And you are..."

"Raphael. Raphael Morgensten."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, clutching the blanket to myself before I realized where I was and why I was even here in the first place.

I sat up quickly. "I'm sorry, I overslept, didn't I? s**t! This is very bad. Roma must be very-"

"Be quiet." He said, silencing me.

I clamped my mouth shut and looked at him.

"You're supposed to get used to the regular ground rules if you're going to live here without any problems," he continued.

I swallowed, realizing that my life was about to change completely since the moment I sold my soul to the literal devil to pay my father's debts.

"You're to be in uniform whenever you're on duty. There will be no fights with the other employees in the mansion. You can have disagreements but you're not allowed to get physical with anyone. There will be dire consequences for all those that disrupt the peace in the house.

"You're not allowed to leave the grounds on your own, or have any contact with the outside world. You must take permission from Roma himself if you have to leave for whatever reason. Failure to do so, you will be treated as any other trespasser that dares to step foot in his territory. You will be killed on sight."

The cold look in his eyes told me that he wasn't joking and I wondered how many employees, 'slaves,' 'workers' Roma has murdered if they tried to escape or leave the grounds without his express permission.

"Of course, the ferals will find you first if you're lucky enough."

"Ferals?" I asked, confused.

"Ah, yes. That brings me to the last thing." He smiled a very cold smile. "Before you begin working here, Roma told me to make sure you know the kind of creature you're working for." As he spoke, he rose from his seat. "Tell me, Aria, do you believe in supernatural creatures?"

I swallowed, my entire body tensing as he drew close to me.

"No," I whispered.

His grin told me that was a wrong answer. Right before my eyes, I screamed as he suddenly crouched to the ground, his muscles rippling, bones breaking and elongating and snapping back into place.

I fell off the bed and crawled away from him, screaming at the top of my lungs.

Instead of the man that had been in from of me just a second ago, a giant wolf with light brown fur and thick muscles, as big as a horse was standing on four legs in his place.

I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched myself twice, trying to wake up from this nightmare.

But I didn't wake up. The large beast was stalking towards me with ferocious teeth and a malicious snarl. I squeezed my eyes shut as it snapped its teeth at me, seconds away from biting my head off.

And then... Nothing.

Silence.

I counted to ten before I summoned the courage to even move an inch. When I opened my eyes back, there was nothing. No one in my room.

A soft voice chuckled lightly and I shrieked and scampered under the bed, shivering.

"This never gets old."

A very human voice. Of course, that couldn't be possible because just a second ago, he was a giant wolf.

I peeked out of my hiding place, trembling violently.

"Come out, Aria," he said.

I laughed nervously. "No, i think I'm good here."

"I won't ask you again."

I swallowed and fearfully crawled out.

Raphael was back to his human self and I was losing my mind.

"What are you?" I whispered.

"I'm a werewolf."

I would have laughed if he hadn't said it with a straight face and serious expression.

"What about everyone else in the house."

"Yes. We all are werewolves."

"And Roma?"

"Roma is worse."

And I'm f****d.

"It's best not to get on his bad side if you plan on lasting here. You won't be serving him directly but you may run into him once in a while. Do not talk back at him. Do not be disrespectful to him. I have seen him tear people apart for so much as looking him in the eyes when he's talking to them. Do you understand? Aria?"

I nodded, my bottom lip trembling profusely.

I thought I had sold my soul to the devil. No. I had made a bargain with something far worse.

Sophia showed up immediately after Raphael left with a big cheery smile on her face, as ecstatic as she had been last night.

But now I know who she was... What she was, she could very well be snarling at me.

"These are your uniforms," she chirped, laying three pairs of short black maid style dresses on the bed, complete with tights, aprons, bonnets and flats.

"Thank you," I whispered, flinching when my skin touched hers.

She looked at me sadly, "you don't have to be scared of us, Aria."

"Are you- are you also a... a," I swallowed, hyperventilating.

"A werewolf?" She beamed proudly. "Yes," she affirmed, flashing razor sharp fangs and elongated sharp claws. "But these are all I've got," she added sadly as she gazed at her claws with a forlorn expression, her teeth retracting into her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't transform fully into a wolf."

"Why?"

"I'm just an omega," she whispered. "We're the lowest and the weakest in the hierarchy. Most of the maids and servants working here are omega. We're not good for anything else."

For some reason, her words made my heart go out for her. I patted her back awkwardly. "Well, you're faster. Fiercer, with a killer sense of smell, if I'm going by the fairytales I've read about your kind. You're already cooler than most humans. That's a win in my book."

She stopped pouting to consider my words, and then she beamed at me. "Yes, you're right!" She squealed, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Hey, be careful with me," I wheezed, trying to escape her tight hug, "weaker species, remember?"

"Oops," she let me go. "I'll keep that in mind." She gestured at the clothes on the bed, "put these on. I'll give you a tour of the house and get you settled into your duties." Before she turned to leave, she said tentatively, "some of the girls and I go into the city at the end of the week for a nightout on our day off. You can come with us if you want."

"I thought we couldn't leave the premises?"

"Of course we can, silly," she snorted. "We're not prisoners. We just have to inform Alpha Roma that we'll be heading out for a while. He has never said no before."

All this was still new to me. Alpha. Omega. Ferals. The like. They may be beasts. The stuff fairytales and fantasies are made from, but so far, they've been nice to me like regular people are.